The VIP guests, the sales associates, even Hayes and the hardened PMC operators stared at Ryan in stunned, reverent disbelief.
He hadn't just defeated the lobbyist's legal strategy. He had eradicated the entire coalition funding her attack. He had spent tens of millions of dollars in a single, devastating keystroke simply to remove her pieces from the board.
Victoria Croft staggered backward, her Italian heels catching slightly on the concrete. Her breathing was ragged, her chest heaving against the bone-white fabric of her overcoat. The cold, brilliant mercenary who specialized in regulatory decapitation had just been intellectually and financially annihilated in under two minutes.
She stared at the manila envelope lying in the dust on the floor.
"You're a monster," Victoria whispered, her voice cracking, entirely stripped of its abrasive confidence.
"I know," Ryan said softly.
